An Inkling of Hope
by SpookyDJ
Summary: After the human has gone through the Underground, Sans and Alphys discuss breaking the barrier (Post Alphys Ending, same timeline as Lonely Monsters).
**This occurs in the same timeline as a different story, Lonely Monsters. You can read that if you want, or you don't have to if you don't want to. It doesn't matter, they're only loosely connected by timeline and there's no real monsters. Just do what you want to do.**

 **I just wanted to write more fanfics that take place in the Alphys ending because Sans and Alphys' friendship is extremely important to me.**

* * *

"S-So, I don't want to just tell you guys what to d-do all the time...!" Alphys stuttered as she struggled to keep a grin plastered on her face. "I want to hear what you want from me, too! Just throw your ideas in this b-box, and we'll see what we can do!"

The stress of running a kingdom was almost unbearable at times. Everyone looked up to you and expected you to know exactly what to do, without ever making any mistakes. Alphys' respect for Asgore and Toriel grew every day. They had been beloved by all, and had done such a great job running everything. With a kingdom as large and populated as theirs' had been, it was really something to be admired. She still struggled with the basic duties of being in charge, and there were far fewer monsters in the Underground than there had been before. She had no idea how they did it. She still had no idea why the Underground was supporting her, of all monsters.

It was easier with Sans' help, though. He had no official position, had no reason other than to be there other than out of friendship, yet he'd been there for support and advice almost since the start. She couldn't do it by herself, and she was grateful every day he was there.

The Kingdom of Monsters, which had once taken up the entire Underground, was now a mere fraction of its former glory. After a human had gone through and killed nearly everyone, the survivors mostly stayed in Hotland. It was where many monsters had evacuated to, and it was the only place where the human had spared any monsters, so everyone just stayed there. It was easiest.

And Hotland was where Alphys, the new leader of the kingdom, was now. Normally, she stayed in her lab, but today she was out and about. She strived to be good and fair and lead in the way everyone else wanted her to, so the input of all the other monsters was important to her. However, even at a fraction of the population they had before, there were too many monsters to listen and to talk to all the time. It was quicker to have them write down their ideas and have her read them all at once later.

So that's what she was doing now, gathering the ideas to read. It was nice going around and seeing everyone else, too. Talking to other monsters made her nervous, but she saw them so little that the positives outweighed the negatives. No one wanted to be alone for too long.

Once she'd seen everyone and got everything she needed, Endogeny helped her take the large suggestion box back to her lab. Carefully, they put it in the middle of the floor, where Alphys could sit and go through it. She gave Endogeny one of their favorite toys to play with while she and Sans pulled up chairs to get to work.

"remember, alphys," Sans said as he sat down. "you don't have to do something just because someone wants you to. make sure you think about it, that it's something you think should be done, too."

"I know, Sans, don't worry," she assured him. "I have to do w-what's best for everyone."

The duo smiled and got to work. They both took turns pulling out ideas from the box, then reading them aloud and discussing them. Some were good, some weren't _necessary_ but still would make things better, and some were outright weird. They laughed together over those. It was a lot more fun with company.

"'bring back the old hot dog stand'?" Sans read one out loud. "heh, didn't realize that place was so popular."

"Someone must miss it," Alphys agreed. "M-maybe you should start it up again. Not all the time, b-but for a few hours here and there. It'd be good for you, too."

"hmm, you think so?" he mused. "maybe i will. i'll think about it."

Both cherished the company of the other. They were all each other had after the human went through, and without this friendship they wouldn't have anyone. They might've given up completely, done cowardly things. But they had each other, and were there for support. And they were able to keep going. Together.

"'Another a-anime night'? But those are always j-just the two of us..."

"i might've slipped in a suggestion or two."

"Sans, you can just t-tell me, you know! And I'd only stop those if you got s-sick of the shows..."

"well, i'm a citizen too, aren't i? i can use the box just like anyone else. and i don't think i'll get sick of your cartoons anytime soon, al. don't worry about that."

The box was full of suggestions, more than Alphys or Sans thought they would get. About halfway through, they took a break. Alphys warmed up instant noodles for them both, and Sans took a nap in his chair. Once he awoke, and the noodles were done, they continued.

Things went the same as before. Most of the ideas were taken seriously and discussed, and the goofy ones were laughed at and joked about. They enjoyed it just as much as the first half, if not more with food bolstering their efforts.

But all it took was one suggestion to catch them off guard. The mood shifted entirely, and their earlier laughs were long gone. It was Sans' turn to read out loud when they came across it.

"'dr. alphys'..." Sans' grin fell from his face. He paused, reading the rest of the words with a stricken expression.

"W-well?" Alphys asked, cleaning her glasses on her stained lab coat. Since she was unable to see clearly, she hadn't noticed the look on his face yet. "What is it, Sans?"

Sans coughed. "'dr. alphys'," he began again, his voice gone quiet. "'since we lost the six human souls, is there any chance of us getting back to the surface?'"

Alphys stuck her glasses back on her face. She went silent.

"...that's not it." He cleared his throat. "'the last time the humans took everything from us, breaking the barrier and returning to the surface was our only hope.'"

She said nothing.

He went on. "'the king wanted to declare war on the humans, but we don't have enough of us for that anymore. still, we need hope now more than ever, and working towards freedom is the only way. you did research on souls before to find a way, surely there must be-'"

"No," Alphys finally said.

"there's still more," he told her.

"We can't go to the surface," she said firmly. "Not now."

"...yeah, i figured." Sans sighed. "we've pretty much proven we can't create something like a human soul, haven't we?"

"It's not even that," Alphys muttered. Her eyes were fixed firmly on the ground, where a small empty bag of popato chisps had fallen. "You remember what happened the l-last time a monster went to the surface, don't you? I-I mean, they were alone, but they had a human soul. They were stronger than every monster that's ever been down here combined. If what few of us are left go u-up there, we don't stand a chance."

"yeah, i remember," he responded. He closed his eyes, reminiscing. "but we didn't stand a chance before, either. asgore declare war anyway, because it gave people hope. it's all we had. it's still all we have."

"A-and I did everything I could to help, but...part of me's almost glad we didn't succeed. We could have all died."

"and we still almost did anyway," Sans pointed out.

Alphys looked up at him.

"honestly, i feel the same. destroying the barrier would be a mistake. we don't need to face a world full of humans to be destroyed. one came down here anyway and almost eliminated us all on their own."

"Then what's the point?" she asked. "Why are we still discussing it? L-let's just say no and move on."

"because it's more complicated than that, alph." He opened his eyes again, meeting her gaze. "i said it before, hope's all we got left. i ran out of mine long ago. so trust me...you don't want the same thing happening to everyone else. promises of freedom are the easiest way to keep it up. it's why they asked, and they'll keep asking."

"If you don't think we should e-escape, but want everyone to have something to look forward to..." Alphys frowned. "What do we do, then?"

"you're in charge, not me. i'm just giving you my take on things. but you're the one that's gotta decide."

"Well...y-you said it's the easiest way, but that doesn't mean it's the only way, r-right? There has to be something else."

Sans nodded. "i'd say so."

"Then maybe for now...just trying to build things back up and survive is good enough," she decided. "We can ignore this for now...at least we're asked about it again. It's too soon to think about freedom, anyways."

The paper was tossed aside with the rest. Alphys picked the next one out, and they continued.

* * *

 **Personally I like Lonely Monsters better but this was fun too**


End file.
